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| County nixes GED program for inmates |
| By Current-Argus |
| Published: 09/12/2005 |
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Reading, writing and arithmetic classes have been cancelled indefinitely at the Eddy County Detention Center in New Mexico. In a 3-2 vote Tuesday, the Eddy County Commission nixed a proposed agreement between the county and New Mexico State University that would have allowed inmates at the detention center to work toward obtaining their GED through the university's Carlsbad campus. Following the vote, Leslie Johnson, detention center warden, left the meeting visibly upset. She declined to comment on the commission's action but said that she was very disappointed. The program was suspended at the beginning of the 2005-06 fiscal year, which started July 1, until an official agreement between the county and the NMSU Board of Regents was revised. Johnson had budgeted money for the program and was waiting for official approval of the contract, which she had expected on Tuesday. Although Johnson was surprised over the commission's action, several commissioners had early this year questioned the success rate of the educational program at the taxpayers' expense. Commissioner Janell Whitlock said that although she fears community backlash for voting against continuing the Adult Basic Education program at the detention center, she could not in good conscience spend taxpayers' money on a program that is free to all citizens. According to the proposed agreement presented to the commission, it would cost the county $17,592 for direct and administrative costs that included an instructor from NSMU-C to come to the jail to teach. Commissioner Guy Lutman said that although Johnson noted that more than 500 inmates last year attended ABE classes in conjunction with the Lifeline program offered at the detention center, Johnson did not have hard facts and figures of how many inmates actually obtained their GED or continued the program at the university after they were released. Johnson, with a fixed smile, said that work details and chain gangs did not, and do not, work. Until recently, the state appropriated money annually for the GED program in jails, but because of the small amount of participation by jails, the state ceased its funding for the program at the local level and redirected its funding to state penal institutions. |
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